Sunday, June 6, 2010

Well, I should have known. Any time I try a recipe in the crockpot that calls for a biscuit or cornbread topping, I am disappointed. You might recall a post from a couple of years ago that was a disaster. The cornbread topping was mush. It never set up. This time, it set up, but it was almost chewy/gummy.

I am still going to post the recipe because the filling was a hit. The cornbread topper? Not so much.

I found this from the wonderful blog of 365 days of crockpot recipes. If there is something I want to try in the slow cooker, I know I can find it there. The last few recipes I made were a hit, so I thought I would try this one. What drew me to it was the fact that it took minimal "special" ingredients. Meaning, I could use most of my pantry staples and not have to buy any extra (aka: expensive) items. What did I have to buy? A sweet potato and a new container of barbeque sauce. Seriously, that's it. I had everything else on hand.

Funny story about the sweet potato. I bought it at the grocery store. It was in a bin labeled sweet potato. When I peeled it, it wasn't orange like I am used to. It wasn't a regular potato either. I honestly have no idea what the darn vegetable was, but I used it anyways. I figure it can't be so horrible since it looked like a potato, but it wasn't orange or yellow-ish like a regular potato. Anyone have a clue what it could have been?

This was very easy to put together. I pre-cooked the chicken like I usually do when a recipe calls for already cooked meat. I also cubed the vegetables earlier in the day so all I had to do was throw everything in the crockpot and hit go. Jack kept me company in the kitchen in his ExerSaucer while I cooked. I am going to have a mini chef on my hands in no time! He seems very interested as I talk him through what I am doing.

I was skeptical about the cornbread topping and whether or not it would set up. Surprise, surprise! It did. However, it didn't taste very good. I had a normal cornbread flavor, however, it was an odd consistency. I suppose that's because I put it in the crockpot, duh!

The chicken mixture was fantastic though! If I were to make this recipe again, I would double the chicken mix and serve it alongside some cornbread from the oven. Or, you could eat it with rice if you wanted to. The chicken mixture was just spicy and sweet enough. The addition of my unknown potato made it thick and slightly creamy. Plus, I love that you get some healthy veggies alongside the chicken.

If you are brave and want to doctor this recipe up to try and make the cornbread edible, I commend you! Heck, for all I know, it was operator error. It could be my fault that the cornbread didn't turn out very good.

Use a mix and follow the directions on the box (minus the oil or butter), or mix together the following:

3/4 cup corn meal

1 1/4 cups flour

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

* Spray the inside of your stoneware with cooking spray. Cut up the chicken and sweet potato, and add to the crock. Add the corn. Empty the contents of the barbeque sauce bottle, and then add the 1/4 cup hot water to the bottle, shake, and pour that in too. Mix well with a spoon.

* In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. You don't need to mix well. Spread the topping on the chicken mixture.